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Missions and Manuals: Better Practice Management
A good way to start the millennium is to put some order in your practice. The best way to start is to develop a mission statement for the practice and individual mission statements for each team member. Basically you want to define what your practice does. Why did you go to dental school? What did you hope to achieve by becoming a dentist?
Define your role as a dentist, office manager, dental secretary, dental assistant or hygienist. This is a good project for staff meetings -- it may take a few. Write a statement that best describes you in this role. This will assist you in visualizing yourself as the best you can be. Once you feel good about what you formulated, write it out. Print these statements and hang them where you, your staff and your patients can read them. This will serve as an inspiration to you and your staff.
Another good way to put order in your practice is to put together a staff manual that spells out the "rules of the road." This should include hiring and termination policies, a vacation policy, a policy about sick days, a policy governing personal use of the telephone and a bonus policy. This list is a good start. Whenever a situation arises, write a policy on it so it is handled the same way each time.
It is important that everyone in the office is treated equally. Eventually you will develop a book of policies. They must be adhered to at all times. There can be no exceptions. If a policy becomes outdated, amend it; Do not just abandon it. When rules are in place and followed consistently, staff members are acutely aware of what is expected of them and what they can expect.
When a new staff member comes on board, that person must be made aware of the policies and sign a form stating each policy has been read and they agree to abide by what the policy states. This will avoid statements like:
"I wasn't aware of that."
"But, Dr. you said ..."
"My spouse said ..."
"But I thought ..."
If you don't have written rules, you find you are at the mercy of the "needs" of your staff. Dentistry is complicated enough as it is. Put some order in and start the millennium with certainty.
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